Was arrested Hizbul terrorist sent by Pak to attack South Delhi mall?

The Delhi Police have confirmed the arrest of a suspected Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist from Gorakhpur and said that said that they had foiled a terror attempt on the national capital during Holi.

The alleged operative Liaqat Ali was sent by Pakistani agencies, said SN Srivastava, Special Cell, Delhi police.

Liaqat was instructed by his handlers in Pakistan to find targets in Delhi where a fidayeen attack could be carried out, said the police official, which includes a popular mall in South Delhi and Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi.

He also said that the terrorist had come to Delhi to avenge Afzal Guru's hanging.

Meanwhile, Shah's wife Ameena Begum is quoted by IANS as saying that her husband was returning home under the state government's rehabilitation policy via Nepal and there was no question of him carrying any weapons.

"My husband was picked up by some gunmen six years after our marriage around 15 years ago. After some years, we received a letter from him saying he was in Pakistan and was working as a labourer in Mansehra," she said.

"After mobile phones started working in the Valley, we used to occasionally receive calls from him confirming his welfare and his desire to return home," Ameena said.

"We filed an application with the authorities in Kupwara district requesting that Liyaqat be allowed to return home under the rehabilitation policy."

"Authorities accepted our request and said he must return to India via Nepal and thereafter he would be helped to re-join his family. Now we are hearing that police have arrested him in Delhi with some weapons," Ameena said.

"There is no question of my husband returning to India with any weapon at all since he was coming home under the state government's rehabilitation policy and that too through Nepal."

Delhi police. Image for representative purpose only. AFP

The HM operative Liaqat had been in living in Pakistan since 1997 and had crossed the Indian borders many times over the years. Police said that they had found hand grenades, high explosive plastics, rifle, maps, dry fruits and a Pakistani passport in the HM operative's hotel room.

"It is clear that he was being trained in Pakistan," the police official said.

The suspected terrorist, Liaqat Shah, hails from Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir is wanted in several terror cases in the state. CNN-IBN reported that Shah had visited Pakistan several times and was arrested from Gorakhpur on his way from Nepal.

The alleged operative Liaqat Ali was on way to Delhi in a train when he was arrested from Gorakhpur, police sources said. He was produced in a court yesterday which sent him to police custody for 15 days.